The New York Mets found a way to get themselves back into playoff contention earlier this season when everyone had counted them out. It looks like the Mets have put themselves in another hole as they entered last nights game against the Philadelphia Phillies on a 6 game losing streak. The Mets where swept in back to back series first on the road by the NL East leading Atlanta Braves and then at home by the Chicago Cubs; a team they’re batting for a wild card spot.
With a starting rotation like the Mets have they’d hoped that these type of losing streaks would be avoidable, but each starter had a chance to stop the losing streak and couldn’t get it done. Last night it was Zach Wheeler’s second shot at stopping the streak.
Wheeler pitched well as he allowed just 1 run over 6 innings, but Phillies starter Aaron Nola matched him also giving up just 1 run over 6 1/3rd innings. So as it turned into a bullpen game you had to think that the Mets might be looking at another loss with the bullpen issues they had this season.
Mike Morin came out of the Phillies bullpen to start the 8th inning Mori had been pitching very well for the Phillies out of their bullpen as he had given up just 1 earned run in his last 10 appearances, but the Mets where able to get to him.
Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto started the inning off with singles before J.D. Davis popped into an infield fly rule for the first out before Joe Panik walked to load the bases. Amed Rosario singled to centerfield to score Alonso and Conforto to give the Mets a 3-1 lead and end Morin’s night. Jared Hughes came out of the Phillies bullpen and Todd Frazier greeted him with a 3-run home run to leftfield to give the Mets a 6-1 lead. Frazier was the only better Hughes faced as after the home run Edgar Garcia came in and got Wilson Ramos and Juan Lagares to hit into ground outs to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 8th inning Edwin Diaz was on the mound for the Mets and he worked a 1,2,3 inning picking up two strikeouts in the inning. It looked like it might be a night for Diaz to work 2 innings, but after the Mets top half of the 9th they went a different route.
Jeff McNeil lined out to start the inning, but them Alonso singled again before Conforto hit a 2-run home run to give the Mets a 8-1 lead. Davis drew a walk before Panik doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Rosario struck out for the 2nd out and that brought up Frazier who proceeded to hit his second 3-run home run in as many innings to make it 11-1. Ramos struck out to end the inning, but it looked like the Mets losing streak was going to end, but they didn’t make it easy on themselves in the bottom of the 9th.
With a 10 run lead Diaz was taken out of the game and Chris Mazza came in out of the Mets bullpen for some hopefully mop up duty. Mazza got the first hitter he face Scott Kingery to line out for the 1st out. Adam Haseley singled and then pinch hitter Logan Morrison drew a walk. Corey Dickerson singled to drive in Haseley and move Morrison over to 3rd making it an 11-2 game. J.T. Realmuto was able to drive Morrison in with a sacrifice fly to make it 11-3, but that was also the 2nd out; so things where looking good for the Mets. Dickerson moved up to 2nd base on defensive indifference before Bryce Harper drove him in with a double to make it 11-4. That wasn’t quite the end for Mets fans as Rhys Hoskins followed Harper’s double with a double of his own to drive in Harper and make it an 11-5 game. Finally Mazza was able to end the Mets losing streak as he got Jean Segura to ground out to 2nd for the final out of the game.
Not the most convincing way to end a losing streak, but on the plus side the Mets did score 5 runs in each of the final two innings. The Mets losing streak official ends at 6 even with an interesting 9th inning.
The Mets will look to extend this new winning streak to 2 games today. Steven Matz (8-8) gets the start for the Mets this afternoon and he’ll face his former teammate Jason Vargas (6-6) who’ll be making the start for the Phillies.
This is a big series as far as the NL wild card race is concerned. It appears as that both the Mets and the Phillies are too far behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East; so winning the division is out of the question. That leaves both teams in the hunt for a wild card spot. Currently the Washington Nationals have a 2 1/2 game lead over the Chicago Cubs for the first wild card spot while the Cubs are 3 1/2 games ahead of the Phillies with the Arizona Diamondbacks 4 1/2 games back. The Mets and the Milwaukee Brewers are still hanging around in the wild card race, but both teams are 5 games back and really can’t afford to lose any more ground.
If the Mets can win or even sweep this series with the Phillies it would allow them to gain quite a few games on a team ahead of them in the wild card race. The Brewers are in a similar position as they are visiting the Cubs this weekend. The Diamondbacks have a tough weekend series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Arizona will need to find a way to stay in the wild card race against one of the best teams in baseball.
All of these teams are chasing the Nationals and they seem to have the easiest weekend series as they’re facing the team with the worst record in the National League the Miami Marlins.
Now you didn’t see the St. Louis Cardinals name come up in the wild card talk and that’s because they currently lead the NL Central. St. Louis has a 1 game lead over the Cubs heading into today’s action, but it looks as though the Cardinals schedule isn’t going to do them any favors over the weekend.
After a rain out last night the Cardinals will host the Cincinnati Reds in a doubleheader to make up that game. While there aren’t a lot of doubleheaders in today’s game they’re not unusual. What makes this whole situation odd is the fact that not only are the Reds and the Cardinals scheduled to pay a doubleheader today, but they are also scheduled to play a doubleheader tomorrow.
This is a huge quirk in the schedule and I’m surprised that the players union hasn’t said something about this. Just imagine of the Cardinals lost all four of these games or even three of four it could be a huge swing in the standings. Of course it could go completely the other way of St. Louis won all four of these games or took three of four.
How do you think this goes for the Cardinals?
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